Speaking to Al-Nujaba TV, Syria’s Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun revealed the final visit he had with Turkey’s Erdogan in 2011 just before the start of the Syrian War and the false promise the Turkish president relayed to Bashar al-Assad. With almost eight years of hindsight, Hassoun’s revelation effectively proves that Turkey (and Qatar by extension) were the original supporters of the 2011 Muslim Brotherhood-inspired rebellion in Syria, followed later on by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other powers (regional and extra-regional) who backed both identical and different factions in accordance with their own interests.

Today the Syrian army won the al-Safa battle. Al-Safa is a barren area around an old volcano southeast of Sweida where in July ISIS abducted dozens of hostages. The last of those hostages were freed in a commando raid ten days ago. With the hostages out of the way the Syrian army could finally use heavy weapons against ISIS which hid in the caves of the al-Safa field. Under heavy artillery cover the troops made good progress (video).

This latest exchange between the Syrian military and jihadist rebels comes as the Sochi Agreement falls apart in northwestern Syria, and in response to a Friday attack by jihadists which killed 22 Syrian soldiers near a planned buffer zone around the country’s last major anti-Assad and al-Qaeda held region.

The resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the terms of the ceasefire with Palestinians in Gaza has thrown Israeli politics into real turmoil. Depending on whose analysis of this situation you read you may be tempted to see this as a good thing or a bad thing. Bernard at Moon of Alabama sees a weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being forced to sue of peace after the upgraded response from Gaza.

On a busy street corner in Raqqa, Syria, a digger pushes through the rubble of a building hit by an airstrike. Onlookers shield their mouths and noses from the dust and stench of corpses of those who perished beneath. Just streets away, three recovery workers pull out the delicate skeletons of two children from under the debris of a partially collapsed home. And across the city, in what was once Raqqa`s public park, men unearth more bodies from a mass grave.

The political upheaval in Israel is a problem for the White House and its Middle East plans. Today Israel`s defense minister Avigor Lieberman resigned and called for new elections. He disagreed with prime minister Netanyahoo over the renewed ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahoo had worked towards the earlier ceasefire to split Gaza under Hamas from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas.

"If Lieberman resigns, Netanyahu will dissolve the Knesset" — report senior Israeli government sources following a formal announcement by Lieberman confirming he has quit his post as defense minister. Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman resigned his post after a dramatic escalation in Gaza since Sunday`s controversial Israeli special forces assassination raid on a top Hamas commander, sparking a political crisis in Israel.

Now a count by a non-partisan group has produced a study demonstrating 56,000 people have been killed in Yemen since early 2016. The number is increasing by more than 2,000 per month as fighting intensifies around the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. It does not include those dying of malnutrition, or diseases such as cholera.

This war risks killing an entire generation of Yemen’s children’, said Carolyn Miles, the president of Save the Children, on 18 September. As she spoke, Saudi-led forces continued their renewed assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, the gateway for 70 percent of the food eaten in Yemen, and for vital humanitarian aid. International NGOs warned in April that a Saudi-led offensive against Hodeidah could lead to ‘near certain famine, risking the lives of millions’.

There`s been a huge uptick in rocket fire out of Gaza on Monday following a dramatic Israeli special forces raid 3km into Gaza territory on Sunday to assassinate a top Hamas commander. And now an Israeli bus has been hit by Hamas fire out of the strip...

As a charter member of the Arab League, Saudi Arabia had initially supported Palestinian sovereignty, and had previously led calls for withdrawal from the Israeli Occupied Territories since 1967. But times have changed. Now Saudi Arabia and Israel have come to a power-sharing arrangement whereby they can manage regional hegemony,as well as sharing the same arch-enemy, Iran.

Ksenia Svetlova, a member of the Israeli Knesset’s (parliament) defense committee has confirmed that fighters from the Israeli Air Force have not entered Syria’s airspace since the delivery of the S-300.

The Emirate of Qatar is supposed to transfer 21 million euro to pay the salaries of Gaza officials. Palestinian officials living in the Gaza Strip are no longer paid by the Palestine Authority. This has been the case for more than 6 months, following the rupture of relations between President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas. De facto, no longer recognized as a single state by the different members of the UN, the Palestinian territories are divided into two distinct political entities.

Why the Saudi’s would seek to acquire the system is a matter of particular interest. Among the countries in the region likely to engage with Saudi Arabia, for all its rhetoric it is not Iran, but most probably the United States and Israel, as the two countries have increasingly grown distrustful of de facto Saudi ruler MBS, and both countries also have a proven record of suddenly abandoning long held allies.

Images coming from many Gulf countries indicate that Netanyahu and his cronies have managed to lure many Arab rulers into their den. Although for a whole century, Zionists did their best to convince the world that we Arabs are merely desert-roaming tribes void of ethics, culture and civilization, they seem very keen on obtaining legitimacy from the heart of the Arabian desert.

According to the IRNA report, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin ‘Abdul-Rahman bin Jassim Al-Thani proposed the formation of a five-party coalition that would comprise of his own country, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.

Regional Middle East media have been circulating early reports that the United Arab Emirates is preparing to re-open its embassy in Damascus after six years of closure, which is to kickstart a new regional shift.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) organization and the UN have completed the delivery of medical and relief supplies which are enough to meet the needs of 50 thousand persons at al-Rukban Camp in al-Tanf area, southeast Homs Countryside on the Syrian-Jordanian borders.

In a sensational disclosure quoting “intelligence sources”, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer wrote in the Financial Review newspaper on Sunday that the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered on October 2 in Turkey was far from a “bleeding heart liberal” but was a seasoned intelligence agent and a sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood working on regime change in his country.

The ranks are closing in around the Saudi royals, notably the purportedly suspicious son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose status has been given an undue measure of inflation from various powers happy to see reform in the air.

11 people, including 6 Russian private military contractors, died as a result of explosion in a former building of Syrian police in the province of Deir Ezzor on November 4, the Russian media outlet Novayagazeta reported on November 5 citing “own source”. According to the report, the five other persons killed in the incident are members of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Israeli soldiers and settlers terrorize Palestinians every day. Stories from November 4-5 (that won’t appear in mainstream media) include 2 Palestinian deaths, at least 14 abductions – some of them children, a settler free-for-all in Hebron, and an injured infant.

Scores of extremist Israeli settlers have blocked a road leading to the Gaza Strip`s main commercial crossing, in an attempt to prevent goods from entering the besieged Palestinian enclave. According to the Palestinian Ma`an News Agency, dozens of Israeli settlers prevented truckloads of goods from entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom on Monday. Israeli settlers held placards and chanted anti-Palestinian slogans.

A new bombshell report in the Jerusalem Post confirms that Israel and Saudi Arabia`s somewhat "quiet" but growing security relationship is far more extensive than previously thought, as it now includes a $250 million weapons deal. This is unprecedented as the two nations still don`t even have official diplomatic relations, as the kingdom has yet to officially recognize the state of Israel, but continue a close behind the scenes alliance based on intelligence sharing especially in places like Syria or even Yemen in order to "counter Iran".

September crisis over Idlib was brought to a conclusion by the Russian Turkish agreement to create a partially demilitarised border strip. This should have been implemented by 16 October but hasn’t. Idlib Some armed groups have pulled back their heavy weapons from the 15-20 km wide 250 km long strip but others haven’t, while the groups internationally categorised as a terrorist, including Hayat Tahrir Ash Sham (HTS), Hurras Ad Deen, and the Turkmenistan militia, have not vacated the area as the Turks promised.

The Russian military and the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces have begun their first patrol in the Golan Heights region, the Deputy Commander of the Russian Forces in Syria, Lt. Gen. Sergei Kualenko, stated last night, as reported by the TASS News Agency.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Armed Forces, Defense Minister Major Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayoub said that the armed forces are always ready to shoulder responsibility in restoring safety and security over Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a skilful politician who knows how to maximise his advantages and this was very much on display in his speech to the Turkish parliament.He contemptuously dismissed the official Saudi story that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was the accidental outcome of a botched interrogation by a “rogue” Saudi intelligence team.

As 2017 comes to a close, the warring parties in Syria are moving towards reconciliation—but the U.S. is not among them. The Islamic State is all but defeated, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies are now closing in on the few remaining pockets occupied by other extremists, and Iranians, Russians, and Turks are mapping out the peace to come.

A government delegation, led by Prime Minister, Imad Khamis on Wednesday paid a visit to al-Mayadeen city in Deir Ezzor, inspecting the provided services for the return of citizens to the city after it had been liberated from terrorism.

You tube: The permanent representative of Syria to the UN, Dr Bashar al-Jaafari strongly responds to the Saudi demands to draft a new constitution in Syria, telling the Saudi Ambassador that his country doesn`t have a written constitution and not even a state name.

The Panamanians who remember Washington’s arrest of its employee, General Noriega, will not be surprised by the fate reserved for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The Jamal Khashoggi affair is one of MBS’s most insignificant crimes, but will probably be his last. The Saoud family is not protected by the Quincy Pact, which only applies to the King. The United States should recuperate several billion dollars.

“If you shout at us we will cry, we are so sensitive” Abu Mohanad Al Mahamid told me on the 20th September 2018. Al Mahamid is the leader of the still-functioning White Helmet center in Dara’a Al Balad to the south of Damascus in Syria. Al Mahamid had donned his white helmet for the camera before he spoke to us about the role of these White Helmets who had remained in Dara’a Al Balad, when other White Helmet members had boarded the buses for Idlib with Nusra Front or for Israel and Jordan as part of the special evacuation organised by the members of the US Coalition.

The onset of three major developments next month will change the entire dynamic of the War on Syria, meaning that the country’s decision makers must urgently assess the true state of strategic affairs as they presently stand, forecast the most probable scenarios that will unfold across the coming months, and seriously consider which policies could help them make the best out of an increasingly difficult situation.

After months of violence and widespread protests along the Israeli-Gaza border fence, Israeli is quickly ramping up its military presence with a show of force a day after launching deadly airstrikes on Gaza in response to what officials say were two rockets fired from the strip earlier this week.

The major French daily Le Figaro on Thursday published a bombshell story which reports the Saudi royal family is actively considering a replacement to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) as next in line to succeed his father King Salman as the kingdom finds itself under the greatest international pressure and scrutiny it`s faced in its modern history over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — widely believed to have been killed on orders of MbS himself.

The Arabic-language Baladi News website affiliated to the terrorists reported on Thursday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are busy with drilling operations in an area stretching from the Brigade 17 region to Sahlat al-Banat region in Northeast of Raqqa city and from Sahlat al-Banat region to the North of the Sugar plant in Northern Raqqa.

In its annual report to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People recommended that Israel acknowledges the Palestinian Nakba. The backdrop for such an acknowledgment remains the two-state compromise, which defeats the purpose of the recommendation.

For a Saudi and Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) update that`s not directly related to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a United Nations official on Sunday warned Yemen is now facing what could be "the worst famine in the world in 100 years" which is set to put "12-13 million innocent civilians at risk of starving," according to the BBC. Yemen`s war, which has involved intense Saudi-UAE-US coordinated airstrikes on civilian population centers going back to 2015 has been popularly dubbed "the forgotten war" due to its general absence from headlines and front page stories over the years.

The negotiation over the Khashoggi case will be extremely difficult. The protagonists are headstrong and dangerous people. The issue could easily escalate. The Ottoman empire ruled over much of the Arab world. The neo-Ottoman wannabe-Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan would like to regain that historic position for Turkey. His main competition in this are the al-Sauds. They have much more money and are strategically aligned with Israel and the United States, while Turkey under Erdogan is more or less isolated.

Sources close to decision makers in Syria said: “There is no doubt the entire Syrian territory will return to the control of the Syrian government, including Idlib and al-Hasaka. The Qunietra and Nasib crossing between Syria and Jordan has reopened. Soon the borders between Syria and Iraq will re-open now that there is a new prime minister in Iraq”.

Advisor to the Russian Radio-Electronic Technologies Consortium explains how Damascus’s defense capabilities will be strengthened after the incident with the Russian plane Il-20 in Syria which was downed, according to the official story, by Syria but accurately blamed on Israel nevertheless. According to this, Israel will ‘never again’ be able to attack Syrian military assets by air.

This week, the Quneitra crossing in Syrian’s Golan Heights has been reopened, signaling the completion of logistical and security preparations at Syria’s key border crossings, including the recent announcement by Jordanian and Syrian officials to reopen their crossing at Nassib. This signals a boost for Damascus, as the Syrian flag was raised at the Quneitra crossing between, witnessed by a detachment of UN observers and prominent members of Druze community, the predominant population in the area, gathered near the crossing.

Duo were fined $12,000 for their role in Lorde cancelling her concert, but they give money for mental health instead. Two New Zealand activists have raised thousands of dollars through crowdfunding after an Israeli court fined them for their role in singer Lorde cancelling her show in Tel Aviv, but they plan to donate the money to Gaza Mental Health Foundation instead.

Saudi Arabia warned on Sunday it would respond to any "threats" against it as its stock market crashed the most since 2016 after President Trump`s warning of "severe punishment" over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi was a loyal member of the Saudi propaganda apparatus. There is no journalism allowed in the kingdom: there have been courageous Saudi women and men who attempted to crack the wall of rigid political conformity and were persecuted and punished for their views. Khashoggi was not among them.

Ankara has called on Damascus to delay any military operation in the Northern and Northwestern parts of the country to have more time to expel terrorists from the Sochi Agreement’s demilitarized zone after militants officially refused compliance with the agreement, a Syrian daily reported on Monday.

Massdar news reported on Sunday that prominent Jordanian politician Leith Shubeilat called on the government of King Abdullah II to apologize to Syria and restore relations with Damascus.
In a letter to Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz via his Facebook page, Shubeilat stated that Jordan should apologize to Syria for turning their government into a foe and cutting ties with them.

Secret talks between the UN and Hezbollah, threats by the US establishment against Iraqi leaders and Hezbollah, exchanges of messages between Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the US representative, and a constant tug of war… All this and more has been registered – according to sources close to Soleimani – during the last four months in Iraq between Iran and the US, Hezbollah and the US, and US and Iraqi leaders, as part of the struggle to secure the next four years of leadership in Mesopotamia with its inevitable challenges. These challenges are related to who will govern the country, how Iraq will behave in relation to the US, and whether the US unilateral embargo on Iran will be respected.